Residents hail new health teams

By EVA HOARE Staff ReporterPublished November 30, 2012 - 10:44pm

Average: 5(1 vote)

MD, nursing staff to serve Prestons, other areas of N.S.

Area residents clap during a health-care announcement in North Preston on Friday. Health Minister David Wilson said that primary care practice teams will expand, adding 12 new family doctors in Nova Scotia. The teams will serve residents of Preston, Shelburne, Indian Brook and Guysborough/Canso as well as New Waterford, L’Ardoise and Neil’s Harbour. (PETER PARSONS / Staff)

For Dolly Williams and hundreds of others in her community, new health care can’t come soon enough.

So it was a “blessing” Friday to hear that East Preston, North Preston, Cherry Brook and Lake Loon residents will soon have a new family doctor, nurse, and nurse practitioner on duty in the area.

“I think it’s very important that this is taking place,” the 67-year-old said after hearing Health and Wellness Minister David Wilson announce the new health team. Williams, of East Preston, is an immediate past member of the Southeastern Community Health Board.

The province will spend $2million, rolling out what it calls “collaborative” health-care teams comprised of doctors and nurses to serve the Prestons, Shelburne, Indian Brook, Guysborough-Canso, New Waterford, L’Ardoise and Neils Harbour.

As part of the program, 12 new family doctors, plus nurses and nurse practitioners, will be able to provide ongoing care to the areas.

“This will mean people in these communities will be able to see a health-care provider faster,” Mr. Wilson said in a release, adding the initiative is part of reducing wait times for Nova Scotians.

Williams said the move was welcome, as her area has been served by “fill-ins” for one day a week since around 2004, when the last full-time doctor was practising there.

“We have a lot of diabetes in this community, we have a lot of cancer in this community,” said Williams, whose husband suffers from MS and is now at a nursing home.

The on-site team will also be great for “young mothers and young parents,” not to mention the elderly, who’ve been forced to get rides into Halifax and Dartmouth for health appointments, at extra cost, she said.

“The future does look bright,” Rev. Wayne Desmond of Cherry Brook told a crowd of about 70 assembled at the Community Health and Wellness Centre in North Preston.

“We feel secure this afternoon,” said the pastor, adding that residents no longer have to “worry” about helping the elderly travel into metro (Halifax) for many medical appointments.

“I’m sorry you have not had a consistent series of family physicians for the last number of years,” said Lynn Edwards, health services director of primary care for Capital Health.

But Edwards said the gap in health care for the area will soon be closed, and residents will have their chronic and urgent health-care needs attended to. In addition, there will be a focus on preventative care, she said.

It’s expected a new health team should be in place soon, as at least two qualified physicians have already expressed interest in filling the job, said Rick Gibson, chief of the district’s department of family practice for Capital Health.

About 10,000 Nova Scotians should be covered by the arrival of the new medical teams across the province. Aside from the primary teams announced Friday, another $200,000 will be given to 15 existing groups, according to Health and Wellness officials.